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Coffee Talk 12.23.18

Well, Christmas is two days away! I don’t know why it surprises me when it rolls around every year.

We spend so much time preparing and anticipating, and we always know the season will fly by, yet it still seems surprising when it actually arrives. Or is that just me?

From where I sit in my office, I can peer over over my computer monitor and see the top of our family room tree all lit up in the dusk of the pre-dawn morning. We finished up all our wrapping last night and rearranged all the presents under the tree so they look picture-perfect.

At this point, anything that hasn’t gotten done won’t get done because it’s too late to place anymore online orders, and even I’m not crazy enough to brave the stores on Christmas Eve, so now we wait.

We’re all pretty excited to celebrate Christmas in the new house. I think it still seems surreal to the girls, who are big on tradition, and all of their Christmas memories are located in a house a few miles away.

They’ve been doing their best to make this house feel more like home by recreating those traditions in our new location. It’s been important to them to do all the things this year… the cookies, the live tree, the present wrapping, the sweet rolls, the Christmas movies… Everything that is familiar and comforting to them about the Christmas season, they’ve wanted to experience here this year. Fortunately, we were able to make most of it happen.

If my son finds it all a bit disconcerting, I wouldn’t know. He doesn’t offer up his thoughts and feelings very often, but he seems happy to be here, and I think it will be good for us all to experience the first Christmas in our new home and get this milestone behind us.

It will just be the 5 of us on Christmas Day, so we’ll be able to take our time with our presents, and it should be a calm and relaxing holiday. My older daughter is planning to make my grandmother’s sweet rolls for breakfast, a favorite Guelich family holiday tradition, and I’m making a steak dinner at their request, which isn’t so traditional, but I actually made steak last Christmas, so maybe it’s becoming our new tradition.

In other Christmassy happenings, a friend and I took our daughters into the city yesterday to see the Pennsylvania Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the Academy of Music.

It’s such a gorgeous venue that I’m becoming very familiar with since having season tickets to their Broadway series. It was nice to know exactly where I was going and where to park, and we got down there in record time since we decided on the 11am performance.

It’s been years since I’ve seen the ballet, and it was everything I’d remembered and more. For me, it’s always been more about the music than the dance. I was a violinist in my youth (believe it or not!) and I sung a rendition of Waltz of the Flowers in high school chorus, so it was all a bit nostalgic to me.

I surreptitiously snapped this shot during the snowflake scene. We were in the back row, and there was no one on either side of us (score!) so I figured I wasn’t distracting anyone, and I didn’t use a flash. I thought it turned out really cool!

Unfortunately we had a group of extremely rude people nearby, which detracted from the experience. I knew when choosing the 11am performance, there would be a lot of kids, but this situation was beyond the pale. I kept hoping the ushers would ask them to leave, but no one did. It seems like there is no respect for culture anymore, but whatcha gonna do?

Besides that, it was a really nice time, and we decided to stay in the city and grab lunch afterwards, which was lovely. I’d definitely like to do it all again next year, but I’ll purchase better seats at an evening performance and hope for more respectful audience. There are no guarantees, but one can always hope…

Today we have church this morning and a Christmas party this evening, and then I need to get up bright and early in the morning and go to the grocery store to get Christmas dinner fixin’s. I know I’m crazy to wait till Christmas Eve, but the grocery store is enough of a madhouse on Sunday afternoons — there’s no way I’m getting within a 2-mile radius today.

I’ll spend this afternoon making my grocery list and hope I don’t forget anything — that will be a Christmas miracle. I’m always sending poor Paul out at the last minute for something obvious that I forgot. This time I’ll get the girls to help me double check myself, and hopefully that can be avoided.

Tomorrow is my older daughter’s 16th birthday, and while we already celebrated with a day in NYC a couple weeks ago, we want to make her day special. I’m making her a homemade birthday cake, and we’ll go out for sushi dinner tomorrow night — her favorite. Then we’ll come back and open our Christmas Eve pajamas. I tried to put a kibosh on that tradition, but I was met with resistance on all sides, so I have those presents set aside and ready to go.

In personal news, I’ve been really lax with running lately. Like basically, I haven’t been running. I think I’ve been out once in the past three weeks? GAH…. it’s really bad.

It’s been a combination of the nasty weather — it’s either raining or 25 degrees or windy or a combination of the three — and the sheer busyness of the season, but I’m going out this morning and hoping to get myself back on a dependable schedule, now that life is returning to some semblance of normal.

January is a tough month to exercise outside, but we’ve discussed getting a treadmill, and it just isn’t in the budget this year, plus we don’t really have a good spot for one, so I’m going to keep doing the best I can to work around the weather. As long as it isn’t pouring rain or snowing, I should be able to deal with the cold. I sure hope those winter running pants are under the tree! I forgot to include them in my personal wish list post, but they’re at the top of my list.

On that note, I better get off this computer and get outside before I lose my resolve. The first day back is always the hardest, right??? (Actually, I find days two and three to be the worst, but let’s not think about that just yet…)

Do yourself a favor and get a rebounder (mini trampoline) for the inclement weather. I love mine, you can jog on it, jumping jacks, “jump rope” without the rope, dance around and it’s very low impact. I also use hand weights on it. Plus it’s much cheaper than a treadmill and easy to store when not in use.

Your tree looks beautiful.!! We always love a big tree and this year we went artificial( BIG change for us) and got the best color and shape one ( my son and husband picked it out) it looks great but I’d like to find even a taller one next year. We do our Chinese food take out on Christmas Eve a long tradition and of course the PJ opening lol… and all the gifts don’t go under the tree until Christmas Eve…I think we have some package shakers lol🤔🤫😮 . Then Christmas Day I’m hosting turkey dinner here with my sisters family and our daughters fiancé.. We take a break after stockings and my husband does the Christmas breakfast. Then it’s on to the gifts..it will be us and the kids and our daughters fiancé for that . My sister and her family come later. Each year this time comes faster and faster but it’s so much fun and most of all we remember the best gift of all Jesus our savior! I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and fun creating all those new memories in your new home.
Merry Christmas 🎁🎄

About a week ago a friend introduced me to Run the Year and I instantly signed up. This next year I have committed to running or walking 2019 miles in 2019 and for some reason I’m excited. Let’s hope the adrenaline rush stays.
Have a very merry Christmas. Thank you for all you do for all of us.

That sounds cool. I’d have to figure out how many miles a week that would be. I did a thing a few years ago 16 in 2016 or something like that – it was a challenge to run 16 races that year. I did it 2 years in a row, and it was definitely good motivation.

Your photo at the ballet is beautiful! It captures the magic.
What a nice treat for you and your daughters to enjoy together. I hear you about rude kids. Lack of parental skills sure sours it for others nearby. 🤨
You’ve done an outstanding job making your new home festive and inviting! Enjoy it and Merry Christmas!
“Joy to the World, our Lord has Come”

Happy Christmas Eve eve! Beautiful photo from the Nutcracker. Our granddaughter took ballet for years and Carley had the lead role her senior year. It was always so fun to attend. Rude people are very annoying for sure. Your tree and all of those presents look beautiful! When the kids come to our home for Christmas they always want baked spaghetti. Since we will be in their home this year, Rob is cooking ribs. Good luck fighting the grocery store tomorrow. Have a fabulous day with the family!

Merry Christmas to you! Your photo of the Nutcracker is just magical! Thank you for a wonderful year of posts. Even though I’ve never met you, your posts are one from a friend.

Your home looks so festive! Enjoy your first Christmas in your new home. Sounds like your girls have the traditions down pat to make the new house feel like home.

Exercise is tough this time of year…. So busy, the weather usually not cooperative and a million things better to do on the go 😂. I try to do some Pop Sugar Exercise Youtube videos at home. Somehow its easier to follow a video and crank up the music; next thing I know 30 minutes is done and I feel better and don’t feel so guilty having an extra butter tart!

Dear JoLynne, I enjoyed so much reading your post today. You have such a busy, busy life. Your Christmas tree and wrapped gifts look beautiful. You do such a nice job. I am wondering where you purchased your wall decoration. It looks so nice in the picture.

Your family room has come together nicely. Now, you can put your feet up and just enjoy Christmas in your new home with your family under wing.
Love your sneaked photo of the ballet. Magical! It’s my favourite this time of year. I drag my hubby even though he’s not fond of ballet. I entice him with a cocktail beforehand! 😉 😀
Thank you for another year of fashion and welcoming us into your new home. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Your tree is beautiful as is the picture of the ballet. I’m a boy Mom and the ballet never makes our list of things to do in Dec. Have you looked into joining an inexpensive gym so that you could run on a treadmill? I try to hit the gym five days a week and sometimes I just walk on the treadmill. Today was one of those days. Could not make a class but wanted to move. Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas. I so enjoy reading your blog.

Merry Christmas Jolynne! It’s funny, but I kind of consider you a friend,even though we’ve never met.
Praying your family has a wonderful day and that you can make wonderful new memories!
We will have all 4 kids together this year. We visited mom today. She has failed so much in the last month. I’m so glad all of her grandchildren were able to visit with her today.
We are having steak on Christmas as well. My family likes to be untraditional.
Blessings to you for a wonderful Christmas Day.

Great Coffee Talk. So much fun to stay connected to you and your family and I don’t even know you. 🙂 I think when we know the Lord, everyone feels like family. 🙂 Funny how steak for Christmas has been the theme. I did that last Christmas too. This year, not sure as my girls are bringing the food and doing it. I’m not well and couldn’t get it done, so had to let it go and let them do it. Still hard. I’m so glad I got my shopping etc. done. Enjoyed your post over the year as its a fun thing to look forward to each morning. I love how real you are and thanks for sharing about not always staying on task on running. I can’t seem to keep on task with exercise with my migraines. Your house looks pretty and I’m sure you will make many new memories there. You really have done a lot since July huh? Merry Christmas.

For the past few years, I have enjoyed your fashion blog, and now I also enjoy seeing your new home and how it is coming along. It looks lovely–warm and welcoming for your first Christmas there. When you have a moment, please let me know where you got your living room rug. Pretty!
Merry Christmas to you and to your family!

We visited my daughter and family new year’s weekend and saw the same nutcracker performance only at the 5:00 p.m. time Sunday afternoon. It was beautiful and exciting in a new city. We walked a few blocks to a French cafe and enjoyed a wonderful light dinner. We had so much fun!

About Me

Hi, I’m Jo-Lynne! I’m the girlfriend who keeps you in the know with the latest trends, the best sales, and wearable everyday outfits for the modern woman . . . because friends don't let friends wear mom jeans.